White Rock’s mayor cautious, ready to welcome tourists back

WHITE ROCK (NEWS 1130) — With the start of Phase Two of B.C.’s reopening plan, the mayor of White Rock says he’s ready to welcome visitors to the community once again — with a couple of caveats.

Last month, when case counts were higher and people in the province were being asked not to leave their local area, Darryl Walker was pleading with people to postpone their trip to the beach or promenade. Now — with restrictions eased and sun in the forecast — he says the municipality is looking forward to an economic boost from tourists.

“We obviously want people to come to our community when everything is safe and sound. So, as the government allows us to open up, we will be opening up further,” he said Thursday.

“People are going to travel across authority boundaries. Come to our community, spend your money, or enjoy our community — but respect everybody.”

One thing Walker doesn’t want is an influx of drivers tearing up and down the main drag. He’s ‘s asking visitors to park in order to minimize traffic congestion, particularly with Marine Drive being down to one lane to make way for expanded patios.

“The tendency is, you know, people love to cruise the strip in the summertime in their in hot cars, especially when you’re a youngster,” he says.

“So we’re just trying to ask people not to do it. Please slow down and respect everybody that surrounds you — pedestrians, young people folks on bikes and so on. We want this to be a successful summer and we want this to be a successful change to give the businesses a chance to kind of come out of the doldrums. We’re still kind of asking people to come down and get parked, and then go and walk along the waterfront walk on the pier, have your dinner.”

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Walker says it’s too soon to say how well recently expanded patios are working out for businesses and drivers, but this coming weekend will be a test.

“As the weather gets extremely warm over the next little while, then that’s when we’re going to really be able to tell how it’s going.”